Closure and protecting device for bottles.



M. SWITZER.

GLUS'URE AND PROTECTING DEVICE FOR BOTTLES. APPLICATION FILED YEB.8, 1909.

1,038,023. Patented Sept. 10, 1912.

UNlflllll) STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MAURICE SWITZER, OF NE'W YORK. N. ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE WILSON DISTILLING COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY. A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CLOSURE AND PROTECTING DEVICE FOR BOTTLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 10, 1912.

Application filed February 8, 1909. Serial No. 476.732.

To a]! 107mm it may concern;

tie it known that l, lv'taumcu Swrrzuu, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Yorkcity, county of New York, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Closures and Protecting Devices for Bottles, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings. forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to improvements in closures and protect ng devices for b ttles and like receptacles. n the following description, the term bottle will he used. for convenience, to include such like receptacles.

Tt is the object of the present. invention to provide a closure and protecting device of such a character as to preserve the lip and contiguous portions of the bottle neck in a hygienic and otherwise clean Condition, so that when the bottle is opened, and the contents poured therefron'i. there will be no danger of such poured contents taking up any impurities or foreign matter, which might be a menace to health or mar the appearance of the poured contents, and which will also be of such a character as to protect purchasers against deception by the passing oft on them of bottles refilled with substitutes for the materials which the bottle is supposed to contain.

As a full understanding of the improvements of the present inventioncan best be had from a detailed description of an organization embodying the same, such description will. now be given in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a vertical elevation of the upper portion of a bottle provided with a closure and protecting device embodying the present invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3 of Fig. 2; and Fig. t is a view similar to Fig. 1, illustrating the method of removing the protecting device from the bottle preliminary to uncorking it.

Referring to said drawings, 1 represents an ordinary bottle neck, which may be provided with an internal or external stopper as desired, an internal stopper 2, preferably of cork, being shown. This stopper, whether internal or external, is carefully terposed a cap 0 sterilized before its application to the bottlc neck, and, after it is so applied, it is covered by a cover-3 of flexible material, preferably paper, and of such length as to extend for some distance downwardly over the exterior surface of the bottle neck so to cover not only the stopper 2, but also the lip and contiguous portions of the bottle neck. and thus protect the stopper and such portions of the bottleneck at all times, e-X-- cept when the bottle is actually opened, against contamination or collection of dirt or foreign matter by exposure to the atmosphere, or contact with thehands of persons who may be called upon to handle the bottle, or in any other way. Over the bottle neck thus closed by stopper 2 and cov' ered by flexible cover 3 is placed a seal t, between which and cover 3 is preferably inof some-hard material, preferably wood. The internal diameter of the upper portion of the cap 5 is slightly greater than that of the stopper 3 so as to receive not only said stopper, but also the cover 3 and a ripping strip 6, which will be presently more fully described, the lower porticn of said cap 5 being cut out or otherwise suitably shaped to receive a substantial portion of the upper end of the bottle neck and also provide ashoulder 7, which, by engagement with the lip of the bottle. limits the downward movement of said cap and therefore of the stopper. This cap 5 not: only serves to hold the cover 3, stopper 2 and (as will presently appear) ripping strip 6 in position and to give a tasteful shape to the upper endof the bottle, but also, by reason of its engagement with the lip and lower portion of the bottle neck,

serves toprevent accidental removal of the stopper 2.

The seal 4 is preferably of paper but may be of any other suitable flexible material,

. which, like paper, will permit gathering in v to, is of textile material, preferably tape, and consists of a narrow band, the upper end of which passes around stopper 2 and cover 3, the strip passing thence downwardly between the bottle neck and cap 5, and thence upwardly around said cap 5 and between it and the seal 1%, and thence downwardly between the bottle neck and said seal 4. The lower end of the ripping-strip 6 extends downwardly beyond the seal 4 and is secured to the bottle neck by a wafer 9 or other suitable seal, a portion of its lower end being left free, to be grasped by the fingers, as shown by dotted lines, Fig. 1, when it is desired to open the bottle.

The parts ofthis hottle closure and protecting device are applied to the bottle in the following manner. After the stopper 2 and cover 3 are placed in position on the bottle neck, the upper end of the ripping strip 6 is placed over them as shown in Fig. 2, and the cap 5 then placed over the stopper 2, cover 3 and such end of the ripping strip 6. The ripping stripj6"is then bent upwardly around the cap 5 and downwardly along the neck of the bottle to which the lower end thereof is then secured by the Water or other sealing device 9. The seal 4 is then placed in position over the cap 5 and tearing strip (3, and its lower portion pressed around and suitably secured to the bottle neck below the swell portion or shoulder 8 thereof.

In order to open the bottle it is necessary to first break the seal 4, and this is done by the use of the tearing strip 6 in the manner shown in F ig. 4. The upper portion of seal 4 can then be readily torn away and (21p 5 removed from the bottle neck, leaving the cover 3 still over the stopper 2 and upper end of the bottle neck. The person opening the bottle will then take hold of the stopper 2 and remove it from the bottle, the cover 3 still remaining over the stopper 2 and being therefore interposed between his fingers and the lip and c-ontiguous portions of the bottle. It is obvious, therefore, that up to the time of the removal of the stopper 2 the lip and contiguous portions of the bottle are perfectly protected by cover 3, cap 5 and seal a against conta-mination by exposure to the atmosphere or contact with the hands of the person who handlesthe bottle, or in any other way; It is also obvious that the tearing strip 6 not only facilitates the opening of the bottle, but also. by destroying the water 9 or other sealing device by which it is secured to the bottle, and the seal 4-, so destroys the appearance of the bottle that it cannot be successfully reused for the purpose of passing otl of any substitute for the original contents of the bottle. Another advantage of the device, due to the use of the cap 5, is that the use of a corkscrew for the removal of the stopper 2 is rendered unnecessary as the stopper may be left protruding from the bottle, as shown, sufliciently to be conven;

iently grasped by the fingers for Withdrawal.

WVhat I claim is A bottle provided with a stopper, a cover of flexible material extending downwardly over said stopper and the lip and lower contiguous portions of the bottle, a seal inclosing said stopper and cover and secured about the neck of the bottle to prevent removal except by rupturing it, and a cap of suitably hard materal interposed between saidcover and seal, receiving the upper end of'the stopper and suitably engaging the bottle to maintain its properposition thereon and prevent accidental removal or displacement of the stopper, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MAURICE SlVITZER. Witnesses A. WHITE, ANDREW J. GAGAN. 

